Hi everyone! To bring you up to speed since last post way back in... oh goodness, March here's the short and sweet of it:
- School ended, and my husband and I moved back home to Florida
- Sagra the Frog Beetle has had various difficulties
- I got my dream bicycle: an opaque green 1972 Schwinn Super Sport. His name is Naveen
- No longer able to commute by bike to a job, I'm currently staying at home unemployed
Other than never-ending chores like laundry and dishes, there's kind of a lot of this going on:
Grunt loves the giant yard, but it's hard work defending his side of the fence from mail ladies and garbage men.
At the end of the day, it's nice to relax in a comfy chair.
Isn't it Fido?
So, when my husband asked me if I wanted to go to work with him, of course I said yes! The bike rack went on Sagra, Naveen got all spruced up with a dusting and tire check, and then bike met car!
I rode around Deland all day, covering almost 20 miles.
It was too early to stop at the visitor's center, but they had a wonderful painting on the wall outside.
I wandered across the street and found a hidden chess park! I loved this old water fountain, and aren't these bathrooms neat?
On the way out of the chess park. This lady has a french braid with the tail tucked up.
On the way back north through Stetson, I passed this little gardening shop. It's closed for the season, but I don't remember this painting being here before.
The bookshop is still here! They look exactly the same as always, and I hope they will another 16 years from now.
I got back to Jamie's work, now unsure of what to do. We still had lots of time before his lunch break, so I wandered around the store for a bit. I decided batteries for the little cycle computer could wait. Amazon has that kind of thing usually cheaper anyway.
I ended up going out on Naveen again, this time to see familiar places. The sidewalk still does not go past McDonald's. I turned right and took strange-but-still-familiar back roads to the house I used to live in. There is still a mound in the front yard, now covered with grass. My mom had intended to do raised flower beds, I think, or maybe just different ones. The dark wood has all been painted white. With the yellow siding and stone, the house looks almost falsely cheerful, instead of homey. Oh well. I continued roaming in a giant square back to work, and we left for lunch.
After lunch, my pedaling took be back south to Deland Cyclery. The man checked several times and finally brought out a whole box of bolts and hardware. Finally, Naveen successfully had 2 bolts installed, ready to install a rear rack later. Hooray!
More wandering ensued, and I stumbled upon this adorable little bakery.
More importantly, the bakery is located along a GREENWAY.
WHAT!? This is fantastic! When did we get an actual Greenway? I was so excited. Across the street was a little park.
Not today, giant pocket watch. Today there is no schedule to keep.
A GREENWAY!!
It led me to a wonderful giant mural.
Yes, I did have to see the view from the top of this ramp.
I finally reached the end of the Greenway, disappointed. It just ended with a little sign almost hidden in a big bush. I turned around to go back along the path to the little bakery where I'd found it.
I ran into a car show being set up.
It wasn't long after that when the little Green way path ran into the library and split lanes. It was going further than the safe area I had agreed to stay in, so I made my way back to Main street. It was time to head back anyway, the day was almost gone already!
This guy was standing patrol with his brother at an intersection. He made me think of The Curator in Karazhan, for some reason.
"The menagerie is for guests only."
I stopped back by the visitor center and picked up a giant and CURRENT cycling map, printed this year! The little office was right next to "artisan alley" so I went in there. There is a neat jewelry warehouse/shop, and other little shops. It started sprinkling outside.
I like the dog one best.
I crossed the street to go through the chess park again. I didn't remember this waterfall from my first walk through. A lady was there letting her two little boys splash in the water and jump around. She agreed to take my picture.
See? It's really me going all these places.
I got back to the store and had Naveen loaded up and ready to go when Jamie got off work. We came outside to this gorgeous rainbow.
The perfect ending to a biking day.
